Waiting room of a hospital. Anna awaits the outcome of a mammogram which revealed the presence of a suspicious mass. She looks up and crosses the smiles of 20 women, wrapped in pink scarves, witnesses of a path of illness and rebirth. How important is this message of hope and strength compared to the efforts, anxieties and fears that Anna will have to face in the following years? From this question begins it study conducted by Humanitas and CREMITResearch Center on Media Education, Innovation and Technology of Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milanwhich will analyze the impact on the treatment and prevention paths of Sorrisi in Rosathe photographic and narrative project born six years ago from an idea of the humanitas breast specialists in collaboration with the photographer louis morniroli and the writer Cristina Barberis Negra.
The central soul of Sorrisi in Rosa are there photographic exhibition and stories of women who have faced breast cancer. The main objective is to raise awareness on the issue of prevention, but for 6 years the hospitals – from Turin to Catania, passing through Milan, Bergamo and Castellanza – that adhere to the initiative have been collecting positive messages from women who find strength and hope in the project or who, in the photos, they choose to join the local Patient Associations to share the journey of the disease with other companions. There are now more than 100 testimonials of Sorrisi in Rosa.
With the diagnosis of cancer everything changes: from perception of one’s body al relationship with family membersand this is one of the main points on which CREMIT-Humanitas research will focus, which will take place in all Humanitas hospitals and medical care centers and in primavera 2023 will bring the first results.
How does the Humanitas – CREMIT study take place
Each photo exhibition of Sorrisi in Rosa exhibited in the waiting rooms of hospitals and medical centers is accompanied by a QR Code which leads to a anonymous online questionnaire. There are about thirty questions, customized according to the first answers that divide the participants into women who are already testimonials of the Sorrisi in Rosa initiative, patients included in a treatment or diagnosis / prevention path, carers and family members.
“In 10 days we collected about 200 completed questionnaires: 62% are women who are doing prevention and come across the project, 34.7% are women already protagonists of Sorrisi in Rosa and 3.3% caregivers – explains the Prof. Simona Ferrari, CREMIT coordinator -. In spring 2023 we will be able to produce a more in-depth evaluation of the photographic and textual language of Sorrisi in Rosa, to indicate its strengths in the light of the perception that women have of themselves, of the relationship with other people, including doctors, and with their families “.
“With almost 60 thousand new cases every year, breast cancer is confirmed as the most frequent neoplasm at all ages – continues the dr. Alberto Testori, associate director of the Breast Unit IRCCS Humanitas Clinical Institute from the Humanity of San Pio X -. The data also tell us that a correct prevention, with breast examination and ultrasound and / or mammography depending on the indications, allows to find neoplasms in the initial phase with a cure rate that exceeds 90%. For this reason, every project aimed at promoting information, prevention and psychologically supporting women in the treatment process, such as Sorrisi in Rosa, is of great importance “.
Breast research in Humanitas
From diagnosis to therapy, passing through surgery, the IRCCS Istituto Clinico Humanitas is at the forefront of improving the treatment pathways for breast cancer.
Less destructive surgery while sparing the lymph nodes
“The results of an important study (SINODAR-ONE) published on Annals of Surgical Oncology 2022which began in 2015 and ended in 2020 in Humanitas with the support of the Humanitas Research Foundation and the 5 × 1000 program of Humanitas, have opened new perspectives for breast surgery by demonstrating that, in some patients, it is possible to avoid the removal of lymph nodes – explains the prof. Corrado Tinterri, director of the IRCCS Breast Unit, Humanitas Clinical Institute and Humanitas San Pio X -. In particular, with regard to breast-conserving surgery (not yet for mastectomies), thanks to this study, the recommendations of the Italian 2022 guidelines on the omission of axillary dissection (the removal of all axillary lymph nodes) have changed. We evaluated the possibility of avoiding the removal of lymph nodes in patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery, or mastectomy for T1-2 breast cancer, and who had one or two macrometastatic sentinel lymph nodes, i.e. with metastases greater than 2 mm. The goal was to determine whether or not sentinel lymph node biopsy alone was associated with a worsening of prognosis compared to axillary dissection. The results demonstrated that the 3-year survival and recurrence rates of patients treated with biopsy alone and adjuvant therapy were not lower than those of patients who had all lymph nodes removed. This more conservative surgical approach allows a quicker and less painful recovery ”.
Mammograms with iodized contrast medium
“An evidence-based research study starting in Humanitas aims to demonstrate how the use of mammography with iodinated contrast medium, performed at the same time as follow-up mammography in women operated on for breast cancer, increases the ability to identify relapses compared to classical mammography and breast ultrasound – says the Dr. Daniela Bernardi, head of Breast Radiology and IRCCS Screening Humanitas Clinical Institute -. In fact, operated and healed women have an increased risk compared to the general population because the risk of recurrence in the operated breast is associated with that of a possible new onset in the healthy one. The study, which provides for the enrollment of operated women and breast follow-up starting from December, aims to evaluate the effectiveness of mammography with contrast medium as a secondary prevention tool for breast cancer “.
The new frontier of chemo-immunotherapy: drug conjugated antibodies
“In Humanitas, alongside traditional treatments for the treatment of breast cancer in the early and advanced stages of the disease, there are innovative treatments that exploit new drugs in clinical development, including the new drug-conjugated antibodies (ADC) – explains prof . Alberto Zambelli, head of Breast Oncology IRCCS Humanitas Clinical Institute and professor of Humanitas University -. This class of drugs represents a significant advance in breast cancer treatment options and is the result of the drug conjugation of chemotherapy and monoclonal antibodies directed against selected cellular targets. These conjugation drugs (ADCs) allow more targeted and more effective treatments than classical chemo alone or immunotherapy alone, and contribute to an increasingly active precision medicine. The results observed so far with the new ADCs, especially in the area of metastatic disease, are so relevant that this new class of drugs is the option of choice for many patients with advanced breast disease, where previous treatments have failed. . In Humanitas, studies are actively underway to incorporate the new ADCs even in the earliest stages of the disease “.
A pink scarf to support the Research
Smiles in Pink is part of Pink Union of the Humanitas Foundation for Research, the project in support of women’s health that represents the commitment of doctors and researchers who work every day to open new avenues for the treatment of typically female pathologies. Supporting the Research is simple, just go to www.sorrisinrosa.it, where you can also buy the scarf that symbolizes the initiative. The donations will support psycho-social support initiatives to accompany patients in coping with changes in their body and find the strength to accept the effects of the treatments.
The numbers of Humanitas